Venetian visitors will be rowing on Staten Island in tribute to 9/11 victims

Photo by Nero ZaneItalian gondoliers, Giuseppe Suste, Vittorio Orio and Enzo Liszka visited Albany in 2007, when they rowed 150 miles to Ground Zero in the remembrance of the victims of Sept. 11, 2001. On Thursday, they and a fourth gondolier, Alberto Fongher, will be rowing around Staten Island to honor the borough's fallen on 9/11.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- If thoughts of Venice course through your mind next week as you look out from Staten Island's waterfront, there is a reason.

Four Venetian gondoliers will be circumnavigating our Island in a ceremonial glide through the waters in tribute to the victims of Sept. 11, 2001.

"To them, America is a great country; they believe in us; they believe in New York and, most of all, since 9/11, they believe in the FDNY," said Vincent A. Tummino, the retired head of the FDNY Columbia Association, who cemented ties with thousands of concerned Italians after the tragic attacks on our shores.

Among the people who reached out to the FDNY in the bleak aftermath of Sept. 11, were four champion gondoliers, all of them above the age of 70.

Endurance rowers, who have notched a trip across the English Channel among other feats, the same men paddled 150 miles from Albany to Ground Zero in five days, in 2007, also in remembrance of Sept. 11.

Thursday, the gondoliers will set out from Richmond County Yacht Club in their 33-foot-long, 1,100-pound gondola, decorated with FDNY memorial emblems.

Rowing together, standing, for six hours straight at a time, the men will propel the gondola Thursday along the Island's South Shore. The boat should be visible from the Conference House Park Pavilion, Tottenville, at about 11 a.m., and then at points along the route.

Because so many Island firefighters and members of the service lost their lives in the attacks, the men thought it a fitting tribute to bring their "Never Forget" gondola to our waters, said Tummino, of West Brighton, who became the founder and president of the International Columbia Society after leaving the FDNY in 2006.

"There's not a day that goes by that it doesn't flash through your head. It's devastating. It's a scar in your brain that never goes away," he said of his own memory of Sept. 11, 2001. "So many people from Italy wanted to show their support for us, and help us and they continue to do so many tributes."

Every September 11 in Venice, this team of gondoliers rows down the city's famous channels with the American Flag draped over the boat.

They will be feted for their compassion, athleticism and connection to America on Saturday, at the Postcards Memorial in St. George, during a ceremony to be held at noon.